Can’t see the video? Click here.

Check out this fun interview I did with the awesome people at ClevverTV! I talk about Bran Hambric, writing the books, and why I have so many creepy gnomes!

Also, the preorders for the Kindle edition of Bran Hambric: The Specter Key have opened! You can find them here.

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Wow, we’re so close to 10/10/10 and the release of the second Bran Hambric book, BRAN HAMBRIC: THE SPECTER KEY! Less than two months now before it’s out! I just heard from my publishers that they’ve started getting stuff ready for the national tour, which means that in the coming months I’ll finally be able to post the dates and cities I’ll be visiting.

For now, here’s the third chapter in the series of previews I’m doing leading up to 10/10/10. Hope you enjoy! Remember, you can now preorder the book online and in stores, so if you like it so far, you’ll want to make sure you get it the day it’s out (or, like last year, a few days earlier than the stores get it!).

You can download a PDF or read the chapter below:

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve written a regular blog post on my site, now that I’m all into the whole vlogging thing and it’s just become habit if I have to say something I pull my camera out and start talking! But for this announcement it feels best to go back to my roots, for all the Nationeers and BranFans who have been around on this site since the faraway beginning, back when Bran Hambric was just some kid in my head and my first book was still just a story.

The big news of the day is that my second novel, BRAN HAMBRIC: THE SPECTER KEY, has opened for preorders online and in stores! I can’t even begin to describe how this feels except to say that it’s a bit like throwing a second housewarming party, and sitting there ten minutes before wondering what all your friends and family will think when they walk in and see how you’ve arranged the furniture and mirrors and Edward Cullen cardboard cutouts (“Jeeves, move him to the left a bit, over there, so that Eddie’s eyes are peeking from my windowsill, yes that’s it, beautiful”). Because I’ve read the book and I know exactly what it’s like, but around 10/10/10 the doors to that big house will finally open, and all of you get to venture into my world again.

The Specter Key

I’m posting my traditional video soon about the preorders, but I would love it if you’d check out BN.com and preorder the book. I’ve also been posting preview chapters once a month. You can read these here:

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

Chapter 3 will be put up VERY shortly (as soon as my video is ready talking about the preorders!).

It feels odd talking about my second novel, when not that long ago I was still sitting at this same exact writing desk, with this same exact keyboard and this same exact computer monitor, and typing away at this little story about a boy named Bran. I don’t know if I actually imagined it would even get this far, so I wonder greatly what it will feel like when I reach the third or the fourth or even the sixth book in this series. The oddest part is when I come to a place in my notes for Book 3, and look at the date and realize it’s something I scribbled when I was fifteen. I don’t think I realized I’d actually ever need it again.

I am continually amazed by the awesome things that the BranFans and Nationeers come up with. Adrienne Frailey, one of my favorite examples, recently sent me a preview of her 14+ song album based on Bran Hambric: The Specter Key. She actually went to a studio to record it, including “The Key”, a song that sounds like it came straight out of a Bran Hambric movie (she is releasing the album in October, she also did “Dying Breath” for BH: The Farfield Curse). You also have enormously talented artists like Judith who sent me this poster in the mail and the Bran Hambric Remake from RemakersProductions.

I will be going on a tour to a few (about 5 or 6) cities in the US (sorry people overseas, I’m working on it!) and meeting as many of you as I can in stores and at schools. I will also be writing a special pep talk for NaNoWriMo participants in November as well as speaking at Wordstock in October. I wish I could go to every city and meet every BranFan but I can only go where my publishers send me and where the schools bring me!

But I was thinking about this and I had an idea. Remember when you all got Bran Hambric trending at #1 on Twitter, above Justin Bieber and The Beatles? I was shocked back then when I shouldn’t have been, because the Nationeers seem to be able to do anything when they rally together.

The biggest goal in my writing life after being published is to hit a bestseller list, just once for a single week. I remember when I was twelve and would go to the library and ask for the librarian to show me where the New York Times list was just so that I could read the names of who was there. Later I’d check it every week online to see who’d gone up and gone down and who’d suddenly sprang up on there for the first time in their lives, and wonder what it felt like to see your name printed there.

If my book ever hits a list, it will only be because of the amazing dedication of you, the BranFans. So here’s the idea: if Bran Hambric: The Specter Key hits the New York Times bestseller list, even for a week, then I will pay to fly myself to the city that bought the most copies, and have the most epic book and poster and shoe signing party the world has ever known. I don’t care if it’s in the US, England, France, Canada, Australia, or Hickstownnobodyville. I will go to your city off-tour and meet each and every one of you to thank you personally for bringing about a dream I’ve had since I was twelve. If by some miracle it hits and stays for a second week, I’d go to the second city on the list, and keep going, until every gnome in the world is signed.

With people like you behind the book tweeting and sharing on Facebook and making videos and telling your friends and librarians and teachers to read it, I know that we can make it up there. And not to leave anyone out: I’d read a chapter of Bran Hambric, on Youtube, with peanut butter covering my face, a leprechaun hat on my head, in the voice of Bill Cosby. There, I said it. This is how bestsellers are MADE.

(I pause to imagine John Green in a leprechaun hat, talking like Bill Cosby, then quietly tiptoe away from that thought)

I know that all the months of preorders with BN.com all count toward the bestseller list numbers in the first week, which will be our strongest time, so if you haven’t already go click that preorder button and be a part of the Bran Hambric army! It’s a big goal, but hey — we trended above Justin Bieber for a few hours. WE HAVE ALREADY ACHIEVED THE IMPOSSIBLE.

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I’m glad so many of you enjoyed the preview of Chapter 1 of my upcoming novel BRAN HAMBRIC: THE SPECTER KEY! Now that we’re one month closer to 10/10/10 and the giant launch, here’s another free preview from the book with Chapter 2!

Hope you enjoy it and be sure to check back for more previews coming soon. You can read it below or click here to download a PDF:

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Many years ago, when I finished the first draft of BRAN HAMBRIC: THE FARFIELD CURSE, I launched BranHambric.com and posted the first few chapters as a preview of my novel-in-progress. Now, nearly 10,000 downloads and a real publisher later, those preview chapters (in various degrees of editing) have crawled their way across the internet, and worked as a wonderful introduction for thousands of readers to the world of Bran Hambric.

I like the idea of letting readers preview a book before they buy it. If you were buying the book in a store, you’d be able to read as many chapters as you wanted. That’s why unlike most book previews, mine are usually a good chunk of the novel (the first one was the whole first 50 pages!). So I’ve decided to keep this tradition up with my next book.

In honor of June 17, Bran Hambric’s birthday, I’ve uploaded the first preview chapter of my upcoming sequel BRAN HAMBRIC: THE SPECTER KEY. This book is the second part in the Bran Hambric series. I will be uploading ONE preview chapter a month, leading up to 10/10/10 — the release date of the novel.

You can read the preview below or click here to download as a PDF.

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Can’t see it? Click here.

I talk about the new Bran Hambric: The Specter Key cover… whilst wearing plaid again.

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Click to see larger image

In celebration of seven years since 3/3/03, I’m very proud to finally show off the cover art for BRAN HAMBRIC: THE SPECTER KEY!

Most BranFans already know this, but I started writing the first book (Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse) late at night on March 3 of 2003. Every year I try to do something special to commemorate the day that in some ways started this entire journey!

The artwork is by the amazing Brandon Dorman, who also did the cover for my first book. As you will see when you finally get to read BH:TSK, the color green is very fitting for many, many reasons

Be sure to head over to BranHambric.com for more details on the book. As always, you can follow me or @BranHambric on Twitter for the latest news. Happy Branniversary!

From my notebook, 3-3-03

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